Lightning Storm–2008

Chris Cudney originally of Fortuna captured this photo of a lightning storm during the 2008 Summer Solstice.  He explained,

…we had a large dry thunderstorm move through Northern California setting off many wildfires. …After work I ran home and grabbed my equipment. I drove to the top of Kneeland to the transmission towers and watched and waited for the lightning. … Finally around 3am it started moving straight toward me. After several huge strikes near me, I hopped back into my truck and watched as bolts shot down all around my truck. After it passed over, I hopped back out and set up my camera on the transmission tower hoping it would strike near the structure. To my amazement it did just that. I got around 15 shots of lighting that night. 

Cudney was in the Navy for four years, then became a mailman for another five years spending the last year in Portland Oregon. He recently left the post office to attend Texas A&M University Maritime Academy. His Flickr account shows other examples of his work.

Above is the unedited version. Below is the edited version of the photo. Both are dramatic.

LoCO will be introducing a regular photo feature soon.  Photographers who wish to have a shot showcased along with a link to their work can submit them to [email protected]